happening now? "happening now". bill: see you friday. bye bye. jon: good morning, i'm jon scott. jane: i'm jane skinner, happen "happening now", senator-elect scott brown about to drop the elect from the title, officially getting sworn in hours from now, his status, what that means for democrats, the republicans and the president's agenda. jon: top officials meeting at the white house, summon dollars there by president obama and for the first time in a long time, health care is not topping the agenda. we'll tell you what is. jane: in the bottom box, new troubles for toyota this morning, this time it involves the popular hybrid car the prius, the transportation department has announced it is now taking action. we're working these stories and a whole lot more from our fox news room. that's where it all happens.

we begin with democratic leaders meeting with president obama at the white house, talking about how to improve the unemployment situation in this country. this comes just about an hour after senate democrats spoke out about a new jobs bill, proposals for this new measure include extending authorization for highway projects in this country, giving tax credits to businesses for job creation, and helping local governments issue construction bonds. here's more from the senate majority leader harry reid. take a listen. >> 96 percent of the jobs created in the last ten years has been by small businesses so we're going to have to focus on letting more entrepreneurs do their thing. jane: this comes as we get discouraging news on the jobs front this morning, the labor department says new unemployment claims rose last week, that brings total losses last month to a seasonally adjusted 480,000. jenna is here from sbn. we know the situation is tough for jobs in this country, but these numbers, you said, are particularly worrisome. >> reporter: they are, jane, because they keep on going higher. we had 480,000 americans

filing for first-time unemployment, and i want to show what you that number actually looks like. we all know we have a big game on sunday, the super bowl will be stayed in florida, the capacity crowd there, 75,000 people, that's what they expect. to hold the amount of americans that filed for unemployment over the latest week, we would need six of those stadiums, just to hold the amount in one week, jane. and what we've seen is that the 4-week moving average also is close to that same amount as well. so instead of the numbers going lower, they keep going higher. and as the further away we get from the holidays, the less we can use seasonality as an excuse for that. so again, the numbers keep going higher and that's very concerning for a lot of economists, investors, and the rest of us. jane: do these numbers have an impact on the jobs number we'll see tomorrow? >> they are separate numbers. these numbers are not directly related to the jobs data we're going to get tomorrow. what the jobs data tomorrow really focuses on is a survey done by employers and the labor department, and

that's done during the middle of the month. so these numbers are already in and being calculated probably still at this time. what we're expecting for tomorrow, this is unemployment rate go up to 10.1% and that could actually be a good thing as more people get encouraged to come back into the job market, but the range of job losses or job additions are very big. some economists say we could see 40,000 jobs cut tomorrow, some say we might see 75,000 jobs added, so it's a wide range. what's important to look out for tomorrow, jane, is a positive or negative numberral 8:30. that's going to be important because the more months we see job losses the deeper the hole is we have to dig ourselves out of and it's already a pretty deep hole, as it is. jane: that meeting with the president and democratic leaders is happening now. we're told it has just been postponed, should happen, though, today, about 4:00 eastern or so. we'll keep everybody updated. thanks jenna. jon: the election that rocked the nation just

officially certified this morning and now massachusetts republican scott brown is to be sworn into the senate today, a week earlier than expected. that will give republicans 41 senate votes, taking away the supermajority held by democrats. brown is to take over the seat the late senator ted kennedy hold for 40 years. so now scott brown heads to washington for the swearing in ceremony, that's where james rosen live on capitol hill. it's been three weeks since this upset victory, jaips, when does the man actually become a senator? >> reporter: for the moment he remains senator-elect but the pen ultimate step has been taken, one more step remains, there was a gathering of the formal proceedings of the governor's council in boston this morning, six of the eight counselors were present, they voted 6-nothing to certify brown's election victory over massachusetts attorney general martha coakley. thereupon, the governor of massachusetts, duvall patrick and william gavin

signed the payment work that brown is going to be bringing with him to washington later today. after that vote, governor patrick said, and i quote, motion carried, done, before the vote, there was a brief prayer for mr. brown offered by one of the counselors, michael callahan. at 5:00 p.m. on the floor, vice president joe biden will officially swear in mr. brown and at that point, jon, they can officially begin calling him senator. jon: the swearing in is taking place a week earlier than expected, as was mentioned earlier. why? >> reporter: well, apparently, there was a change of heart by senator-elect brown himself and the people around him. just as late as tuesday afternoon, they were still saying he planned to be sworn in as per his own request so he could hire staff and make other changes on february 11th, 1 week from today, but yesterday, an attorney for senator-elect brown, daniel winslow, sent a letter to the governor and the secretary of state in massachusetts, advising that his client, quote, has been advised there are a number of votes scheduled in the

senate prior to february 11th and for that reason, he wishes to be sworn in as soon as possible this proceeding was already scheduled for 9:30 this morning so the governor was happy to honor the request, so we're not sure exactly which vote he has in mind, but there are a number of them that could come up as early as next week, and so this has all been moved up one week. jon: james rosen, live in the capitol, james, thank you. jane: thousands of soldiers in riot gear patrolling the streets of kashmir, that region that has been rocked by violent protests after the death of a teenage boy, protestors were throwing rocks, going up against government troops. this boy was killed by a tear gas shell fired by police. kashmir is divided in pakistan by both countries in its entirety. jon: president obama began his day at the national prayer breakfast. vice president biden, spain's prime minister and heisman trophy winner tim

tebow also in attendance, tebow getting all kinds of attention these days, cbs will reportedly air a prolife commercial during the super bowl that features tebow and his mom, she says counters drurnlg -- doctors urged her to have an abortion while she was pregnant with tim. molly line in washington, what did we hear from tebow? >> the crowd of the national breakfast did hear from him but tv cameras had been shown the door by that time. the 2007 heisman trophy winner was expected to give the closing prayer at the annual event, he was following remarks by secretary of state hillary clinton, and the main speaker, president obama. jon: what was the controversy over the super bowl ad that involves tebow and his mom? >> the christian group focus on the family has bought time during the super bowl to air an that's expected to tell the story of his mother's pregnancy in 1987 when mrs. tebow and her husband was were on a trip to the phillipines, she got sick, the doctors advised an abortion, she refused and tim tebow was born in august

of that year, he has said his mom was, quote, a courageous woman. planned parenthood that is responded to the ad with its own online ad featureing minnesota vike,' sean james and al joiner talking about how they respect mrs. tebow 's decision but they believe that women should make their own decision about their health and future. jon: in this prayer breakfast, what did the president had to say? >> he talked a lot about trying to return a spirit of civility to washington and to politics. listen to this. >> surely we can agree to find common ground when possible, parting ways when necessary, but in doing so, let us be guided by our faith. and by prayer. for while prayer can buck us up when we are down, keep us calm in a storm, a prayer can stiffen our spines to surmount an obstacle, and i

assure you, i'm praying a lot these days. >> reporter: the president said to the bipartisan crowd, quote, surely you can question my policies without questioning my faith. jon? jon: molly henneberg in washington, thank you. jane: we're watching races where democrats are facing tough reelection battles this year. they seem to be working to distance themselves a bit from the president and his agenda. if that's what they're really doing, is that the right move politically? karl rove will be here with his take. hi karl. also new developments for toyota, now the transportation department is launching an investigation of the prius, what you need to know if you own one, or want to buy one.

jane happening now, in the top box, court action for a motivational speaker in connection with a sweat lodge in arizona, a man facing charges after three

died at a sweat lodge. harris faulkner is following this. in the middle box the transportation department is taking action against toyota and opening an investigation into the carmaker's popular prius after brake problems have been reported in some models. the bottom box, we're tracking a major winter storm. we are -- janice is doing all the work. she's going to tell us about warnings posted for the mid atlantic states where some areas will get hit with nearly 2 feet of snow. a look at the fox cast moments from now. also we've got pictures to show you we're watching very carefully, these two pandas who were born in the united states, they are on their way back though to china, they're boarding a plane, it's actually a 777, donated by fedex, the boeing 777. they were born in the united states, one was born, mei lan was born at zoo atlanta and tai shan was born in washington, they're at

dulles airport and are going to be taking off we think probably an hour, hour and a half from now. you can see them in the crates, they've been fed, they have handlers traveling with them. one interesting note, because obviously they were born in the united states and trained by english-speaking trainers, once they arrive in search yuan, they are -- in sechwaun, they good going to be trained chinese. we'll bring you more picture s as they come up. jon: usually, as we get closer to mid-term elections the president turns into the campaigner in chief, stumping for members of his own party who are up for reelection, or election. this time around, though, some democrats seem to be trying to distance themselves from the president, especially those facing tough races, democrats in colorado, nevada, arkansas, illinois, arkansas, pennsylvania,

delaware and connecticut. let's talk about why with karl rove, he was former senior adviser and deputy chief of staff to president george w. bush, he is also a fox news contributor. karl, i don't know if you saw it, we had senator blanche lincoln of arkansas on yesterday as our guest, she has a big thing on her website basically trumping her opposition to the president's budget, saying that she stands up for the farm bill and the farm subsidies that come with it, and she is not alone among democrats in touting their opposition to this president. why? >> well, look, why? because the numbers indicate that they got troubles. they're too closely identified with them. i saw this in 2006 on the republican side, so i'm sort of -- i have sort of a clinical view of this. think about this, president obama started out with high approval ratings and ended in 2009 at 49 percent job approval, every democrat up for reelection this year understands that in every first mid testify lerm election the president standing on election day in that year is worse than it was at the beginning of the year, they know they've gone

from having a 16-point advantage on the generic ballot in the 2008 election to a three-point disadvantage today. so all of them are trying to get the right -- dial it right in getting the ability to show themselves as being independent from the president and as their own person and it's a very tough thing to do because you're trying to show on the one hand you're standing up for your state and on the other hand you're trying to avoid not sounding like you oppose the president of your own party, because if the question is who opposes president obama more, the democrat or the republican, the republican is going to win that argument every day of the week. jon: as you know and as you alluded to, your former boss, george w. bush, wasn't necessarily welcomed as president as he was campaigning or could have campaigned for republicans around the country. is president obama falling into that same position? >> well, yes, he will fall into that and he just got accepted, but again, it's not so much what obama does as what the democrats do. for example, in 2006, there was an indiana republican congressman who ran a television ad touting how he

had opposed the president on the iraq war vote, that he was one of five republicans to oppose bush on the iraq war vote. his district, which president bush carried 2-1, this 7-term congressman went down in defeat. so they've got to be very careful about it. they've got to be own the -- on the one hand say i'm independent of the president on things that matter to my state, on the other hand they have to be careful about letting too much distance grow between them and him on things like health care, cap and trade, the budget, all of which are going to be core elements of what president obama is talking about all during 2010. that's why the president is not doing them any favors by saying we're going to keep at this health care bill and past it this year. that's what drove a lot of the anger last year and he's going to bring it up again this year and his budget this year is going to create more difficulties for them because that budget has huge deficits and lots of spending. jon: when the president had that rather extraordinary meeting with the republican caucus last week, what did he accomplish there and in your view politically was it wise for him to do so? >> yeah, it was very wise

for him because he dominated there. the president always when they go to those things dominates it. that's why the president, when president bush went to their retreat in 2007 wouldn't allow it to be televised because they understood how dominant the presence was, so they he did good in signaling to the american people i'm bipartisan, i'm willing to visit with the republicans but he further poison dollars, frankly, the atmosphere in dealing with the republicans because he said things that are demonstrably false and he also sort of kept dissing the republicans in their face. one republican, for example, from georgia, dr. tom price, said mr. president, why do you keep saying we're the party of no ideas and he said i didn't say that. of course he said that. starting last april and he and -- he and his administration have lambasted the republican party as the party of no, and the question is your budget going to fall -- you're tripling the national decifit in the next ten years, and he said that's not what we're trying to do at all.

that's what his budget itself said last february when it was approved by congress. jon: interesting times. karl rove, thank you. >> you bet. jane: jon, i'm down at the breaking news desk with harris, she's obviously working on something that's come in about michael jackson's doctor. >> reporter: you know what, we saw this coming down the pike because the attorney for conrad murray, that attorney has said we might see him turn himself in. what's being reported is the attorney for michael jackson's physician who was with him reportedly the night that michael jackson died last year is negotiating his client's surrender to the los angeles county authorities, and some of the other details that are coming in on this, jane, have to do with the fact that conrad murray is still maintaining nothing that he gave michael jackson that night would have killed him. he's not denying that he didn't give him anything, he's just saying nothing i gave him would have killed him. we'll continue to follow this, if he turns himself in, if authorities go after him for an arrest. we'll see. he's expected to be in court tomorrow for an arraignment, although formal charges have not come down yet.

this is getting really interesting. we'll keep everybody posted. jane: i know you will, harris. jon? jon: jane, it is very rare for anyone to be killed by a shark, especially in this country, but yesterday a man was killed after being surrounded by sharks off the coast of florida. we have new information on where a group of sharks was just spotted today, plus the latest on this very rare fatal attack. >> started working on them, started pulling him out of the water and the people did a great job. he just wasn't moving. it was very difficult.

jon: temperature happening now", in the top box, former president clinton, ready to make his second trip to earthquake-ravaged haiti, he leaves for the island tomorrow. in the middle box, the new york jury conviction of a pakistani scientist accused of trying to kill americans

is now sparking protests in pakistan. the u.s. claims she shot an american military personnel. some pakistanis believe the charges were fabricated. in the bottom box, the pandas born in the u.s., now preparing to head back to china. you can track the pandas, streaming live on foxnews.com. let's go for you to jane in the newsroom. jane: a the assignment desk, we have information about a shark attack in a -- a very unusual one, a 38-year-old who was kite surfing. >> he was 500 yards off the beach and a lifeguard saw him, saw him struggling. the lifeguard -- this is a sad story but i want to point out, they're saying this lifeguard is somewhat of a hero, the lifeguard swims out, he gets up to the guy, his name is steven schafer, a life-long kite surfer and he sees the sharks swimming around him, actually paddles through the sharks, puts the guy on

board and takes him to shore. he was live when he was -- when he was brought to shore. he later died at the hospital -- he later died at the hospital. that beach in stewart, florida is actually open today. trying to do a lot of research, what we can find out about the sharks. you and i were just talking about, what kind of -- jane: they say there was more than one. >> they've read reports they think this is a juvenile white shark, great white shark. i cannot confirm that. i know you are going to be speaking to a guest who can probably speak better to it. jane: i think george burgess is with us from the florida museum of national history. mr. burgess, when you hear this, ken was cite ago couple of experts thought it was perhaps a younger great white. what are your thoughts on that? >> it's premature to make that kind of a call. we haven't examined the bite wounds yet, and there's certainly less likely to be white sharks than most any other species in florida because it's a cold water

shark and they're only rare visitors to our water. so more than likely, it was a bull shark or a tiger shark, but we'll see after the examination. jane: and it's more than one, spectators said? >> the observations of the residueer -- rescuer means that there was more than one shark in the area. that does not equate to more than one attack. so again, until we are able to examine the body we won't know whether only one shark was involved or if the others were just around him. jane: can you describe mr. burgess how rare this is in this area? >> a shark attack is a relatively rare phenomenon, and shark fatalities even rarer, still. worldwide each year, there are on average four fatalities, so as you can see, this is extremely unusual considering the billions of hours spent in the water by folks. in florida, a fatal shark attacks are once a decade

type events. jane: as tim mentioned, jon, mr. burgess is going to be working on more details and hopefully we'll hear from that lifeguard in a few minutes. jon: be careful where you swim if in waters off southern florida. why? giant squid are invading waters near san diego, the creatures, up to 4 feet long, sometimes 60 pounds. anglers are catching hundreds of them in the pacific. fishermen say landing the squid, he's quite a challenge. they put up a pretty good fight and spray liquid up to 30 feet once out of the water, their ink stains anything in its path. what a mess. usually battle plans are closely guarded secrets of war. that way the enemy doesn't know you're coming. so why is the u.s. military in afghanistan handing out press releases holding news conferences about an impending attack? the answer, just minutes away.

jon bottom of the hours now, here's what's happening now, brand new information on the day's big stories. it's the first attempt at a national tea party convention and it's not without controversy. carl cameron, live in nashville, tennessee. >> reporter: jon, they're in nashville and this is the first gathering of the grassroots movement that burst on to the stage last year and has truly shaken up american politics, more than 1000 will come from across the country from as far away as how's to hear the headline speaker on saturday night, sarah palin of alaska. there's controversy but here they call it growing pains of a political movement growing by leaps and bounds every day. expwron jon -- jon: -- jon: for generations we've let the fingers do the walking but the phone book could be going the way of the rotary telephone. claudia cowen, live in san francisco. >> jon, call it green legislation to get rid of the white pages, which we use less and less in this internet age, printers say

they're a waste of energy and millions that go towards recycling, all the phone books that people throw away. under proposed legislation in sacramento people who want white pages would have to ask for it, the yellow pages would not be affected at all. jon? jon: and the super bowl is the place to be if you're looking for a career in sports. phil keating is on the job hunt in h yment alia. , florida. >> reporter: in miami in particular, the super bowl is on everyone's mind, and today these are the remnants of contributors at this high school, about 500 students wrapped up listening to former athletes with the nfl, as well as executives with pro baseball and pro basketball, learning that even though they may not be good enough to play professional sports they can still get really good, well paying careers in the sports industry. jon? jon: phil, claudia, carl, thank you. that is your newsweek. >> the constellation moon program is a victim of the red pen, however,

the president propeses giving nasa about $6 billion, the question is, how would that money be used. brian wilson is in d.c. to try to answer this. brian, does the president's vision mean that the united states basically is walking away from man's exploration of space? >> reporter: i think that's a fair question. the shuttle program is winding down this year, the president is killing off the constellation program which was the bush-era plan to send americans back to the moon but nasa administrator charles bolden insists the u.s. is not getting out of the business of man-assisted space flight. take a listen. >> for any of you who think we're abandoning human space flight i respectfully disagree. i think we're going to get there perhaps quicker than we would have done before. >> reporter: but jane, that said, they're starting over, new plans are in development, details are thin at this time. there is still some preliminary talk of going to the moon and mars. jane: -- jane: i assume they feel like they need

to justify their existence. what will they be doing? >> reporter: it appears there will be an expansion of the earth sciences mission, a focus of things like climate change, again, details very thin right now. it's not a new mission for nasa, but one that has a lot of support in the obama administration. still, with all of this transition, all of this change, some long-time observers of the space program are not very happy. >> it's very just freighting to me the party of john kennedy and lyndon johnson has twice now killed an effort to return to the moon. it just means as soon as the democrats get in, the first thing they do over at nasa is kill the bush administration moon program. >> reporter: jane, the larger picture, it appears the russians will now take the lead in heavy lift into orbit, the chinese are coming on strong with their space program. low orbit work is moving to the private sector. the challenge for nasa is to find a way to go relevant and stay in the game at this point. jane: brian wilson in

d.c. for us, thanks. jon: when you talk about war strategy, you generally think they should be shrouded in secrecy, right? think again. the u.s. military and our allies are giving away one set of plans apparently to let the taliban know we are coming. the announcement is the exact date of the first big battle of the surge, the exact target, i should say, the town of marjah in helmand province. senior afghan officials went as far as holding a news conference to discuss a pending strike. is this good military planning or does it put soldiers at greater risk? let's talk about it with retired major general bob scales, fox news analyst joining us from washington. so we put out a press release, we have told the taliban, okay, we're going to take on the town of marjah, we're going to clear the insurgents out of it. is that smart? >> yes, it is smart, jon. look, to explain it, let me give you the army war college 101. this is a

counterinsurgency campaign and in these types of wars what's important is tactical security and tactical surprise. when and where are the company's platoons and batallions going to strike. when you get to the strategic levels the prize is not as important -- surprise is not as important as winning the war of words, the idea of shaping the narrative and intimidating the enemy so the u.s. command is doing this for three reasons: first of all, to tell the afghan people we're there to support them and make them secure. secondly, to tell them we're coming so the afghans can get out of the way and reduce civilian casualties. but more importantly, jon, remember now, war is ultimately a test of will, and in counterinsurgency, you have to begin to break the moral back of the an me before you engage in close combat. it's part of this psychological campaign against the taliban in marja to say the allies are coming, we're going to kick your butt, and whether you leave or whether you stand and fight, you're going to lose. jon: but doesn't it give them the opportunity to put trip wires

everywhere and boobie trap all kinds of buildings and hiding place? >> no, look, everybody knows when the war starts, it starts when the snows melt in the mountains and that's always at the end of march, it's been like that for a thousand years. everybody knows where the fight is going to be and that's at marja, because that's where the taliban has moved in the southern helmand province to sort of coalesce and establish a rebound, if you will, in this city of 90,000 people. so the enemy, the place and time have been known without having to hold a press conference in kabul. jon: again, when you're dealing with an enemy who doesn't wear uniforms how do you go into that city and know who's taliban and who isn't? >> well, that's the whole purpose of this announcement is to drain the swamp, to get the enemy -- to get the civilians out of the city as much as we k. sort of like we did in iraq. so that when close combat does start, then most of the people who are staying behind are bad guys, and jon, if

they have ak-47s and rpgs, they're probably bad guys. jon: major general robert scale, thank you. jane: janice has been talking to us about this, this massive storm that's coming, it could potentially break records. there is severe flooding predicted for some areas, other places should be bracing for snow and ice. she's up next to talk about what all these colors on this map mean.

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jane: 41 minutes past the hour, happening now urk the new case against michael jackson's doctor, the attorney for dr. conrad murray saying he is negotiating for the doctor's surrender. in the middle, live on wall street, where the dow has been down this morning, down about a little over 200 points right now. we'll keep watching it, the stocks have been sliding on news that the unemployment numbers rose unexpectedly last week. on your bottom, a brand new look for the ketchup packets you get at restaurants, the new design has a base that's more like a cup for dipping and a tear-off end for squeezing.

plus, it holds three times as much ketchup as the traditional package. does that make you happy? jon: i am all over that! jane: i love it. jon: for fun on the playground, you can't step on it and squish it. there's a monster storm heading to the mid atlantic and eastern states, folks in those areas could see record snowfalls. virginia, get ready for a state of emergency there in advance of the storm and people in the southern states getting drenched right now. janice dean, what do you think? >> reporter: can we call it a nasty butt storm? jon: you can. >> reporter: santa told me we coovment the floor director, i'm blaming him. this is a nasty one, it's going to affect a lot of real estate across the central plains, you can see that icy mix moving into missouri and illinois and heavy rain, 3-5 inches across the gulf region, new orleans is getting slammed now so we have flash flood watches and warnings in effect as this storm gets its act together. look out, here it goes

in our future cast, as we head into friday. look at d.c. and philadelphia. there's new york city, and then as we get into saturday night, d.c., it looks like you're going to take the brunt of this storm and in some cases, we've seen three times the average amount of snow already this season. there's the icy accumulation, anywhere from half an inch to an inch of ice across the appellations, so this is going to -- appalachians, so this is going to cause problem for the power lines and trees. then the snow, heading into saturday, washington-baltimore, the national weather service saying anywhere from a foot to isolated amounts of 2 feet of snow, guys. and you know what d.c. is like when they see even a couple of snes of -- a couple of inches of snow t. really cripples them. luckily it happens on a weekend, that's the good news, the bad news, it's going to take a lot of time to dig out and virginia, already a state of emergency there, a lot of folks, a lot of areas that you see, baltimore, their snow cleaning budget is already in the red.

this is going to be a big deal for them as we head into friday and saturday. we're all over this at the fox weather center. jon: now i have to snofl jane's driveway, right? >> reporter: ca come see me as well. we'll fix you hot chocolate. jane: we wouldn't ask you back, but you're so darn efficient! jon: janice dean, thanks. jane: the obama administration is putting a lot of stimulus money on the line to try to create jobs in this country. there's now a call for more oversight and transparency when it comes to spends those dollars, the senate finance committee is meeting with the head of office of management and budget, they want to know exactly where your money is going. williams lajeunesse is watching this for us, what are these projects, how many jobs would be created, do we know? >> reporter: jane, $55 billion, that's how much the white house expects to be lost to waste, fraud and abuse but senator grassley said this morning, he says that's optimistic, that more money will be lost on projects that

don't serve taxpayers' best interests. take that weatherization program, the study in texas, $4 million went to weatherize 47 homes, that's 78 grand per house. you could buy a house for that. the savings is supposed to be about $500 per home. that would take 150 years for each investment to pay for itself. or, a million dollars here, to study hants work, the two arizona universities, that's $300,000 a job her grad student. several states got $100,000 each to stage puppet shows, that's 1puppete. r's job her state, $50 million to companies that raise tropical fish, shell fish, alligators and turtles to buy fish food, and finally, $4 million to north carolina public schools for math and literacy coaches. not for students, but teachers, that's 64 jobs, 70 grand each, to teach teachers how to teach. now, there is also money that is being spent on people who don't deserve

it. some construction projects. for instance, $6 million going to a california construction company that is under investigation for defrauding the city of san diego during the 2007 wildfires. a denver developer got 13 million to build senior housing despite being sued as a slum lord in san francisco for rodent-infested apartments, kentucky gave $24 million to a contractor on trial for bribery, while another company got 15 million to monitor water quality in a creek that it polluted. >> we have to know that people at the office of management and budget and the various agencies that are shoveling this money out the door, that they're on top of it, and we need a transparency and information on all of this. >> the senator said he also wants to make sure that agents are -- agencies are monitoring these contracts, because some agencies were less

-- where less than 1 percent of the money is being spent or how to police where it's going. jane: william lajeunesse, thanks william. jon: right awe a sad goodbye underway as two american-born giant pandas, just about to leave the united states behind, headed back to china. take a look at the panda plane. it's about to be wheels up. three-year-old mei lan and 4 1/2-year-old tai shan, captured the hearts of visitors and zookeepers alike in atlanta, in washington, but now, they are on a mission to help their endangered species, they will become part of a breeding program in china. harris faulkner has been tracking the panda movements all morning long. >> reporter: it is kind of sad but it's an important thing that they go back home and find love for each other and make more little tai shaves and mei lanes. here's the -- lans. here's the history, they arrived in 1972 as a

gift to the american people from china after president nixon's historic visit there. they gave birth to five cubs but none of them survived, they lived in captivity for 20 years, they passed away. so any other panda from then until now has been on loan. and we knew that at some point, tai shan and mei lan would be leaving us and now they are, but there still are a couple more pandas that are going to be here and will be here on a ten-year loan, $10 million, until december, so we've got a cul more that will still be here but this is a sad day as they take off on this fedex jet. mei lan, by the way, who's finish atlanta, and tai shan has been in the d.c. area, they come together and they are off into the blue skies, love in the sky. jon: we're going to mess them. thanks harris. jane: a new focus on bullying across this country. make a look at teenagers

who committed suicide after reportedly getting tormented by their classmates. there's a new study out today that explains why some kids fall victim to bullies and others don't. what can you do as a parent to help your kid prevent getting into this situation? we'll talk about that next.

jane: ever wonder why some kids end up getting bullied and others don't? leaders of a fascinating new study say it has to do with nonverbal communication, not what's being said. seems that kids that get kicked up have trouble in these areas, reading nonverbal cues from other kids, understanding what the cues are, what they mean, and then coming up with ways to resolve the conflict correctly. clark mccowan is lead

researcher for the behavioral center that conducted this study. clark, i guess people tend to think of like back in school, we had a bully, too, and it's all harmless, but what we're seeing, before the commercial break, we put up pictures of kids who have killed themselves because of this. it's not harmless, is it >> that's right, and i'm really glad you raised the point because we know from other peoples' research that between ten and 13 percent of school age kids are actively rejected by their peers. it doesn't mean that every once in a while they get kicked on and someone doesn't like them, it means a lot of people don't like them and being rejected by peers is a risk factor for a variety of academic, behavioral and mental health outcomes so i view this as an underaddressed public health issue and we can all remember bullies but we should be careful not to dismiss the importance of good social relationships in childrens' development. jane: some of those are not for the lay person, when we talk about nonverbal communication

and kids understanding what the cues are, what exactly do you mean by that? >> i'm glad you asked. i think we can think about our own experiences and day to day life and understand nonverbal communication. any time you're in a social interaction with someone, be it a family member or friend, you're constantly taking in information about what the person feels, even if you're not aware of it, and nonverbal behavior is like facial expression, tone of voice, even thousand a person sits and walks. those kinds of behaviors are always communicating what we feel to others, the more skillfully you're able to detect others' emotions the more skillfully you're able to navigate social circumstances. jane: if i'm listening to you as a parent, i'm going to put up suggestions and you can explain in laymen's terms, first, ask the child to identify their mistake in this encounter with the other kid, help identify the missed cue and create a

imaginary or similar scenario. boil that down for me, what do you tell parents to do? >> well, i think the first thing that is really important, before even coaching a child is really to get a handle on their skill level, because children and adult -- and adults vary tremendously with the ability to read cues and solve problems, so if you notice your child, say, isn't picking up on the fact that you're becoming angry or another child is becoming irritable or that someone is happy, then it might be time to intervene by assessing when a child -- when you see a child with another child, and that child is expressing a strong emotion, ask your child, what do you think that person is feeling, how can you tell they're feeling that, give them plenty of opportunities to practice because i believe kids and adults can get better at reading nonverbal cues and that's going to stand them in good stead. jane: they just they'd

your help as a parent. clark macauen, clark, thanks. new details are coming to light today about that suspected christmas airline attacker, as we learn, he has been cooperating with authorities, but would giving him a civilian trial help us learn more about threats against us? or as some say, could it actually make the case against him harder, could it harm that case? a closer look, next. want to know how fast it took my stiff joints to feel better?

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jane: welcome to a brand new hour. hello, everybody, i'm jane skin every. jon: and i'm john scott. in the top box, he is the newest senator in the u.s. just a few hours there now, republican scott brown will become officially sworn in. happened about a week earlier than originally planned, why? how to dry the man accused of trying to blow up a u.s. airliner on christmas day. in the bottom box, haiti accuses them of kidnapping, but a group of u.s. missionaries say they were only trying to help children in that quake-ravaged country. today court action in the case. we're covering all the breaking developments around the world and across the country. jane: president obama is meeting with top dem can contact leaders from both the house and senate this afternoon, and for the first time in months health care reform will not be topping the agenda. instead, the jobs bill will be.

this comes as the labor department just this morning announced new unemployment claims jumped unexpectedly last week. harry reid, the majority leader in the senate, outlined the democrats' priorities in putting americans back to work. take a listen. >> our agenda is not about politics or partisanship. we have a jobs agenda. it's about putting people back to work. our motivation is to help americans sleep a little better. our mission is not to stop until every american who wants a job can get a job. jane: wendell goaler is at the white house with a preview. >> reporter: they'll talk about a tax break for small businesses that hire new workers or invest in new plants or equipment, and the white house says republicans really should enforce this if they're truly interested in bipartisanship. republicans have said that the stimulus pang should have contain thed more tax cuts and

less government spending. harry reid says he hopes to introduce this on monday, and he wants republican as well as democratic sponsors. but republicans have been lukewarm to the proposal in part because it would also extend supplemental unemployment benefit thes and hike the current year's budget deficit to a record $1 and a half trillion. at this morning's national prayer breakfast, president obama said he was praying for what he called a spirit of civility. he said he's not longing for a past he said certainly wasn't perfect, but he says there is a sense now that something is different, that something is broken. those of us in washington aren't serving people as well as we should. he said politics has gotten so partisan that lawmakers have no room to negotiate. >> empowered by faith, consistently, prayerfully, we need to find our way back to civility. that begins with stepping out of our comfort zones in an effort

to bridge divisions. >> reporter: the president said, quote, surely you can question my policies without questioning my faith, and he paused a bit and added, or questioning my citizenship. jane? jane: wendell, some mixed economic news today? >> reporter: there was, jane. there was a slight uptick in filings for unemployment last week that was disappointing to economists and also to the administration. but orders to factories were up in december, and that was a welcome can surprise. now, the 8,000-person hike in jobless filings disappointing to folk thes who thought that maybe the picture had turned around and that businesses were ready to begin hiring once again. the increase in orders to factories, however, was twice that that was expected. it suggests that the manufacturing sector which has been losing workers for years might actually be prepared to begin adding some now, jane, and, of course, adding jobs the

overriding focus of the white house at this time. jane? jane: wendell is at the white house for us. thank you. jon? jon: more problems, jane, for the toyota motor company. the department of transportation is looking into problems with the brake system on that very popular hybrid, the prius. jenna lee is here with more. we were just talking about the 2010 prius? jenna: right. for this brake issue for the 2010, that's the issue at this time. the prius itself is on the recall list of the other eight models because of those other issues, the floor mat, the accelerator as well, but the 2010 prius is now being watched because of a brake issue. the government has 124 reports of problems with braking and also four reported accidents that are tied to this. so for toyota total you have a floor mat issue, you have a sticky accelerator potentially, and now this new brake issue, jon, in the prius. jon: so if i don't have a pri krause -- i actually used to have one. jen how was it? jon: i liked it. jen jeb no brake problems?

jon: i never had any. am i affected? jenna: there may be a problem in the electronics for some of the toy toyotas because of an electronic throttle, so when you're pushing on the accelerator, it's sending a signal to accelerate. so there's still this issue of that, but toyota's not the only one, so we're going to have to see if might be other car companies might be involved here. and also, jon, this is interesting, a lot of our major mutual funds for our 401(k)s actually have some exposure to toyota, and the stock overseas really has taken a hit, so you might be affected in ways you never even thought even if you don't drive one. john: we'll check in with you later. jane: china has been discussing sanctions on iran, that it's counterproductive. that development is a potential huge road block at efforts aimed at curbing the country's nuclear am wigs.

mike emanuel, what is china saying about why it would be opposed to tougher sanctions against iran? >> reporter: it's saying that iran's position is evolving or changing, and so chinese officials are saying talking about further sanctions against the iranians maybe counterproductive and may hinder the opportunity at a diplomatic solution. to -- so clearly a blow to the u.s., u.k. and further allies, jane. jane: another vital country when it comes to iran is russia as well. have they weighed in? >> yeah, very interesting because lawyer shah and china do a great deal of trade and business with iran, so everybody's always watching to see what russia and china believe when it comes to further sanctions against tehran. the russians have said they are leaning toward sanctions against tehran, so that would be a diplomatic victory from the western perspective, but obviously with china being

against, that is a big problem. so far the russians are saying they do believe further sanctions may be needed with tehran. jane: one last question, it appears things are heating up ahead of what's a significant anniversary. >> the 31st anniversary of the 1979 revolution is coming up on february 1 #th, so opposition leaders have suggested to people they should take to the streets to demonstrate their unhappiness with the regime of mahmoud ahmadinejad. clearly, the regime is gearing up for this significant date on the iranian calendar, so maybe some fireworks inside iran on february 11th and not the kind that the regime would want to have. jane. jane: mike emanuel, thanks, mike. >> reporter: sure. jon: in israel police are on high alert searching for barrel bombs off the coast. three explosive-laden barrels have washed ashore just this week. militants in gaza claim to have

sent out a total of eight such bombs. this is a new technique. why are they using it, mike? >> reporter: you know, jon, you could label this latest effort on the part of the palestinian militants as either creative or desperate. they want very much to lash out following the death of mahmoud, aha maas operative killed in dubai they say by israeli mossad agents. the rocket fire hasn't been effective for them, so they needed to come up with something, and the barrel bombs are what they came up with, jon. jon: well, how effective is it? i mean, you wouldn't call this an advanced weapon, would you? >> reporter: no, it's really not. you're talking about 22 pounds of tnt inside of these barrels which is enough to blow a hole in a fishing vessel, not really enough to blow a hole in the side of an israeli naval vessel. also the trigger on these bombs is a cell phone, so someone has

to be in line of sight of this bomb be, either standing on a beach or a boat, see it float up next to the a naval vessel and call the cell phone to trigger the bomb. thus far none of them have been effective in terms of exploding on a target, one of them did blow up and destroyed or damaged an israeli bomb disposal robot, but all they've been effective at doing is raising the tension level, raising the misery index, reminding everyone there still are palestinian militants in the gaza strip, and they're trying their best to the lash out at israelis. jon: any response yet from israel to these things? >> reporter: what the israeli police have done is close off the beaches which isn't hard to do because it's the cold and rainy season, and they're searching for three of these barrels still floating around at sea, and they're searching with airplanes and by ship and they're searching along the beaches in foot and in vehicles. as far as what they're doing militarily, the prime minister said they will respond accordingly, and since the barrels started washing up

shore, there have been new israeli air strikes on those smuggling tunnels along the eastern border. jon: mike, thank you. senator-elect scott brown will take his oath of office a little later or today, that's about a week earlier than originally scheduled, so why the rush? and what does his swearing in mean for the democrats' agenda this washington? we'll get into it straight ahead. alka-seltzer plus liquis rush relief everywhere you need it. it's the most complete relief you can get in a liquid gel, so you feel better, fast. alka-seltzer plus liquid gels. mmmmmm. mmmmmm. wow! you have got to be kidding me. 80 calories? light & fit has 80 calories versus 100 in the other leading brand. light & fit. irresistible taste. fewer calories. i love light & fit.

jane happening right now in the top box, the new york attorney general's office is filing civil charges against bank of america and its former ceo, ken lewis. it's saying the bank misled investors about merrill lynch when it acquired the bank in late 2008. in your middle box be, supreme court justice clarence thomas is defending the campaign ruling telling law students in florida that corporations and unions have a first amendment right to spend money on political candidates. and on the bottom, nasa is counting down to sunday's launch of the spate shuttle endeavor

set to deliver a new room to the international space station. jon: just a few hours from now scott brown is to be officially sworn in as massachusetts' new junior senator. he was set to take office later this month, but republicans requested the process be sped up so that he can be on capitol hill for some upcoming votes. so how will scott brown's early arrival in the senate affect the democrats' agenda? let's talk about it with the blitz call editor of the washington examiner. chris, we know what happened to the president's health care agenda when scott brown was elected, what else is he going to change now that he's going to be the newest u.s. senator? >> well, remember, scott brown campaigned as the 41st vote, and what he meant was that as the 41st republican vote in the senate, he could break the democrats' ability to block a republican filibuster. and that applies to everything. and it's not clear that he's going to be in lock step with the republican leadership, but it means that on a lot of

crucial issues he's going to be able to break the majority party's serve. and the first thing that comes to mind and what everybody's talking about today is a man named craig becker who was the president's nominee to be on the national relations labor board involving labor management disputes across the country. a lot of republicans and business leaders think he's too radical to be on the nlrb, and by scott brown's arrival, it may put the kibosh on that. jon: well, has brown taken a public position on becker and his nomination? >> well, the good thing for scott brown right now is he is the man of mystery on capitol hill. nobody knows exactly where brown stands on all these issues, and it's building up some of this hype in washington because people aren't sure. but there is at least speculation that one of the reasons that brown wanted to come so early was to prevent democratic leaders from pushing through a lot of nominees from the president who are controversial the.

jon: how much clout, i guess, is he going to enjoy as a freshman senator? doesn't most of the leadership in the senate really lie with the leaders of the various parties? >> absolutely. in terms of being able to move legislation and do thing thes, yes, it's all based on seniority. but brown has a star factor going right now. people want to be associated with him, he's part of a movement that's sort of fire thed up the american party, and when you hear president obama talking about wanting to be more bipartisan, i'm sure there's nothing he would like more than to be able to get the scott brown seal of approval on health care or deficit reduction or any of the issues that the democrats have been unable to get passed with a supermajority. on the other side, republicans are going to want to get some of the reflected glow from a young, attractive, sort of mr. it for the republican party right now. so brown may be the most junior

senator there, but he has some star appeal that people are going to want to have rub off on them. jon: when he campaigned, as you said, as the 41st vote against health care, it would seem he would be an unlikely ally for the obama administration in any kind of big health care reform. i mean, they might nibble at it at the sides, i suppose, huh? >> i think you're right. the only people who aren't admitting that the president's overall health care bill is dead are people in the administration themselves. i think you're hearing in congress, basically, the conditions -- answer is that the bill pig bill is dead and no matter what the administration says about being around the 1 yard line or 5 yard line or whatever yard line, now with brown coming in there's a chance to -- to use an overused phrase -- push the reset button in congress and between the capitol hill and white house, and that the president might be able to get senator brown who comes from a very democratic state to look for some pi

partisan -- bipartisan opportunities. jon: well, it's thursday, the senate doesn't usually convene on friday, you've got a big with snowstorm coming this weekend, when is the first vote he might cast, any idea? >> well, i think you're probably right. unless something very unusual is happening on capitol hill right now and they're trying to put through some quick vote, i don't think we're going to see much action until at least next tuesday, and with this big snow coming it might even push it back beyond that if there are travel troubles. so i think the first votes that you'll probably see will be on craig berg becker's nomination to be on the national labor relations board, and this is going to be a big test for libor unions in this country about whether or not the democratic majority they helped create was worth all that trouble. jon: well, my prediction is that coming from massachusetts he'll be one of those senators who knows how to drive in the snow, and he'll have the snow tires on. [laughter] >> that's right. no doubt. >> thank you. >> have a great day.

jane: want to go to the harris at the breaking news desk, he's got new information about michael jackson's doctor. harris: just got off the phone with an attorney working on the case in houston who confirmed for me that conrad murray, through his attorneys, is actually negotiating with the lapd and da's office for a surrender as soon as today. now, here's what the attorney, miranda, who works with ed chi november, that's the one who's with him now, says our client left on tuesday ask is now -- and is now currently sitting in a hotel room waiting while we negotiate his surrender. she says we don't know the official charges yet, we're waiting to hear that, but we want to figure out how fast we can make this happen because we want a, quote, no drama surrender. he apparently has had some death threats against him. the doctor to michael jackson was with him the night he died. his attorneys say we want the protection of our client, we want it to be a very quiet surrender.

he's in l.a. waiting to make that happen. separate from that a report that an arraignment could happen as early as tomorrow. we're watching very closely for it. jane? jane: harris, thanks. what is the fbi learning from umar abdulmutallab? some are asking if investigators could have learned more if the case wasn't treated like a civilian time. well, the attorney general has now weighed in on this controversial decision. [ peyton ] gotta make a play here. find the opening. be precise. hit that guy, hit that guy! gotta make a play. go! hit that guy! l's do it again. [ male aouncer ] winning takes intense preparation. [ peyton ] catch it, catch it! [ male announcer ] it starts with wheaties fuel! a bold honey-cinnamon crunch cereal with complex carbs, and b vitamins. [ peyton ] new wheaties fuel, prepare to win!

jon: happening now in the top box, the top u.s. military commander in afghanistan says the security situation there is no longer, quote, deteriorating. the comments by general stanley mcchrystal are in contrast to nato and afghan officials who say the taliban is expanding it

influence. in the middle box the pretrial hear anything the drew peterson case continues today. he's the former illinois police sergeant charged with killing his third wife after his forty wife disappear -- fourth wife disappeared. prosecutors have call canned about 40 of its 60 witnesses. in the bottom box, pandas born in the u.s. heading back to china. you can track them streaming live on fox the news.com. jane: the white house is now fighting back against are a wave of criticism following the arrest of the guy known as the failed christmas day bomber. if you recall, the administration has come under a lot of fire for trying abdulmutallab in the federal court system. the civilian system reading him his miranda rights, giving him access to a lawyer rather than treating him as an enemy combatant. but the feds say he's now talking, providing useful intelligence they otherwise

wouldn't have had. let's bring in scott weber, good to see you, and they say he's doing this because what they have done, the white house has released this information, they brought some of his family members. our viewers may remember his father tried to alert authorities that my son may be getting in some trouble here. >> correct. jane: let's talk about the value of what he may or may not be providing at this point. can we there's what he's saying? >> he's not an enemy combatant, he's a criminal defendant can. so the question that investigators will be asking him will relate to the crime ask the networks he's involved in. remember al-qaeda in the arabian peninsula has come up on the radar screen in the republican as a hot bed with yes, ma'am season and other areas, so the hope is he could help root out the networks and the bad guys. jane: and there's, obviously, been so much controversy over trying him in civilian court, and the justice department has made it pretty clear that they

feel like we can do it successfully because we have done it successfully hundreds of times, and they point to several hundred times it being done in the bush administration. >> that's true. i don't think there's an issue about whether the department of justice can appropriately and successfully prosecute these terrorists. i think the question comes down to how do you want to treat them? use them first and foremost for intelligence gathering to root out networks, root out individuals who are part of the networks and thwart or prevent other terrorist attacks and then look at prosecution as secondary to that, or do you want prosecution to be your primary goals? jane: but aren't they having it both ways if he's talking now? >> the difference is once he gets lawyered up, the lawyer's there, right? if you try him in a military tribunal, at a certain point in time he will be entitled to a military lawyer, but the tribunal has a much better ability to gather intelligence, and from a prosecutorial standpoint, they can use classified information much easier. jane: i want to ask can you,

too, there's a suggestion out there because there are so many administration officials talking about this case now and also about the 9/11 case that maybe these cases going forward in a civilian court would be considered anticipated, and a judge may -- taints, and a judge may take issue with it. >> well, yeah, it's a little difficult when the president and the attorney general say he will get convicted and he will get the death penalty. i don't think anybody really questions that that's ultimately what's going to happen, but to say that could put you, or could put the prosecution in an interesting position because there's been so much pretrial plusty, you have the leader of the free world saying he's going to get convicted, the attorney general saying that also. jane: one last question, a story that's just breaking from senator kit bond of missouri, he says he was told that abdulmutallab was talking, but he was told not to say anything, and the white house then released that information according to kit bond. >> i think what you see here is

there's been a huge letter-writing campaign, mcconnell, collins, lieberman all writing letters to the attorney general and the administration, and i think people are getting spastic about the whole thing the. my advice is take a deep breath and chill out a little bit, let's not do anything that's going to jeopardize the prosecution or intelligence-gathering efforts. jane: right. because it does feel like it's jumping the shark to become completely political, and we are, at the end of the day, talking about national security. >> exactly. and national security ought to be a bipartisan effort. we should make sure we do everything we can to protect the civilians of this country. there's a lot of finger pointing going on. jane: scott weber, thanks. >> thank you. jane. jane: jane we have pictures just in of a guy named stephen schafer, 38 years old. he is this kite surfer we told you earlier who was killed in a shark attack off the coast of stuart, florida. he was attacked, according to

witnesses, by multiple sharks. researchers kind of differ on what type of shark they say, they don't really know until they can examine his body and the bite marks. he was about 500 yards from shore when a lifeguard saw he was in distressed. that lifeguard is said to have paddled through and danger area and got him back to shore, but schafer later died at the hospital. we should point out we talked to an expert last hour, this type of attack is extremely rare, and according to authorities in this particular county in florida, they say this is the first time they've had one that's fatal the. we'll bring you more information on the story as we get it. jon: battle plans normally are top secret in if military, but the pentagon's launch of the surge in afghanistan comes with a press release. it identifies the targeted town where the marines are headed. why the military wants the taliban to know it's coming. coming up.

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spots like baltimore and d.c. buried in snow. we're all over this, we'll keep you up-to-date. back to you. jon: the u.s. military announcing the exact target of its next offensive against the taliban. steve centanni in washington. >> reporter: jon, it's the worst-kept secret in the military, a major nato -- leaflets warning of the upcoming action, but there's little doubt that the taliban stronghold of marja will come can under attack. 25-30,000 troops will take part in what's expected to be the largest offensive of its kind in the afghan war so far. jon: a new bill in california could close the book on the white pages. claudia cowen explains from san francisco. >> reporter: hey, jon, if you throw away your white pages, you're not alone. now environmentalists and

california lawmakers say it is time to end the mandatory delivery of these residential listings. people who still want to get the directory would specifically have to ask for it. in some cities that also have the similar kind of opt-in policy, that has reduced production by 99%. jon? jon: claudia, steve, janice, thank you. jane? jane: well, after really an explosion on the national scene, the group that calls itself the tea party has now kicked off its first national convention. we find them in nashville with carl cameron. how is the group dealing with internal politics which all groups have? displr well, they've got a lot of internal politics because they are such a fast-growing group. they don't know because they can develop and grow so was, and there is no sort of organizing national program or leadership, so that's what this convention

really is about. it's the first-ever attempt by one group here in nashville to bring together folks from all over the area, and they come from as far away as hey to talk about -- hawaii. how to do mailing lists, how to be more effective, which messages to cultivate. it's a big challenge, and republicans across the country are watching because there are some questions about whether the tea party movement helps or hurts, inevitably, republicans think it can help. they'd like to help it. listen to roger stone, a noted republican consultant. >> they're not well versed in the areas of direct mail fund raising on online fund raising or political organization. they're true believers, they're soldiers, they're workers, they're door knockers, but they don't have the experience that some of the republican operatives and political consultants have who can see a good thing and want to milk it while they can. >> reporter: that is a very important point. there are so many people getting

involved with the tea party movement who haven't been in the past that political pros see huge opportunities, and the tea party movement is naturally suspicious of washington professionals who might be willing to take advantage of them. no question there's a grassroots energy here the likes of which can the country hasn't seen in a long time the. a veteran of many presidential campaigns as well as independent movements says he sees something potentially historic. listen to this. >> is potentially the most powerful movement since the anti-war movement which was directed at a specific issue that i've seen in my lifetime. as a political movement, this means real possible change can. >> reporter: the question is how to go about doing it, and there are some who have criticized from within the tea party movement this particular event because you've got to pay to get a ticket. this is the first time the tea party movement in any incarnation has attempted to bring people together to do real political workshops. they needed a roof, they had to

pay for it. there are those who say anybody who appoints themselves a leader to run a workshop is running anathema to the grassroots nature of the bottom-up bubbling enthusiasm. these are the types of growing pains any political organization would dearly love because it's a sign of growth. jane: and, carl, complaints that this convention would be more about profits than a grassroots effort, anything more on that? >> well, sure. they intend to use the profit to fold the money back into the cause. there was a question about whether they were going to pay sarah palin a big speaking fee. she has said she intends to donate it back to the cause. they are going, they hope to work out messaging and methodology and a host of other things that all of these volunteers can take home. they've come from hawaii, even trinidad. the media has come from as far away as japan. this is a very big deal. jane: carl cameron in nashville for us. carl can, thanks.

jon: a new report from congress shows the nation's social security fund is, guess what? in financial trouble. the entitlement program that provides more than half of the income to a majority of retirees is now taking in less in taxes than it pays out in benefits. jim angle is live in washington with more. this is, according to some, the most popular program ever created, but i guess, jim, like everything else in government it's having financial troubles too. >> reporter: i'm afraid so, jon, and that is a big problem because everything about social security is big. listen to this. >> it's the biggest tax that most workers pay, it's the biggest source of income for most retirees, it's the biggest spending program in the federal government. bigger than the pentagon, bigger than medicare. so when you have problems, they're going to be the big be be problems. >> we've already got 7-8 trillion unfunded obligations. we need to go ahead and try to

restructure so that people know what they can count on so we have a solvent, sustainable, secure and more savings-oriented system. >> reporter: most experts say whatever is done to save the system has to be done soon because it would be unfair to make changes for people already in retirement and 30 million baby boomers, jon, are already starting to retire. jon: but we all see a social security tax coming out of every single paycheck, so doesn't it have a dedicated line of revenue? >> reporter: well, you would think so from those deductions, but i have bad news. the money is gone. social security has been taking in far more than it pays out for decades, but that money wasn't being saved. instead, the government has been borrowing it and spending it every year and giving social security ious. the problem is the government doesn't have any extra money to pay back those ious. so guess what? it'll have to borrow the money because it's already trillions in the hole. listen. >> that means getting it from

investors in the u.s., getting it from china. at some point those folks are going to say, we're not going to lend you any more money, and that's when the music stops and things get really, really hard on the federal government. >> the federal government's got to go out and boar or row it from others and, you know, predominantly foreign lenders. it's already spent the money. people talk about the lock box? the lock box was picked a long time ago. >> reporter: so, jon, more borrowing in order to keep social security on a firm footing. it has the ious, it just doesn't have the money, and the government doesn't have the money to pay those ious. jon: why am i not surprised? [laughter] thanks. jane: we've been telling you about the disappointing news out of the labor department about unemployment numbers just as democrats are unveiling a new jobs program. we're going to talk about the political implications of all this and, hey, how much would it cost all of us to have this jobs plan? that east next. >> we had our more wings ! no way he'll be in first thing tomorrow.

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jon: this just in to the fox newsroom, you might remember that actress britney murphy was found dead last month. now the coroner is out with an official report. the cause of the actress' death, pneumonia. the coroner also reports drug intoxication was also a factor in her death. jane: just about 15 minutes from now you're going to see "america live" with megyn kelly. and she's here on the big screen can with a preview. >> hey there, jane. coming up next hour, major house vote on whether to let the government spend even more money that we do not have. neil cavuto on whether this is a good idea. plus, arlen specker has a new idea, he joins me live. you haven't seen much of him lately, but you will on our show. and mtv's jersey shore, snook can i, the situation, the italian-american who wants them off the air joins me to explain

why top of the hour. jon: discouraging news out of the labor department today, new unemployment claims rising 8,000 last week bringing total jobless claims last month to a seasonally-adjusted 480,000. this as senate democrats are unveiling a new job creation proposal today. richard sock' d.c. is a senior adviser to president bill clinton, scott stands l is a form ther press secretary under former president george b. -- w. bush. the democrats have some proposals to try to rein in this unemployment situation, but the numbers out today aren't doing them any favors, are they? >> well, they aren't, and the numbers need to get good, better quick cannily. i think these proposals will be helpful. extending unemployment benefits, tax credits for small business,,

i think that's the way to go. scott brown has begin us the new barack obama and the new excitement in the democratic party, i think these proposals are the way to go. jon: your former boss, bill clinton, sort of moved to the center after his first go round with midterm elections. we're not that far into barack obama's term, but is that what you see happening here? >> i think they've gotten the message. i think the first year was a little bit of a bust, and i think you'll see a new focus on jobs and the economy, helping small business and, you know, it's what the country needs right now, so i think it's senator. jon: scott, what about some of these ideas? the tax credits for small business hiring, that kind of thing, it sounds a little bit like, you know, some republican-themed ideas. republicans going to welcome these proposals? >> i think, jon, that these proposals tend to, i think they're fashioned more as political stimulus than actual the economic stimulus. so as scott brown, as richard mentioned, who's being sworn in today, i think a lot of

democrats are wanting to make sure they don't get coakley ed and while these proposals may be welcomed by some aren't going to make a difference. we've had 2.7 million jobs lost this year at a time when government has added $1.6 trillion to the debt. so you might have a marginal difference with some of these proposals, but the idea that democrats have finally found religion on tax relief is a bit preposterous because, you know, when you talk about small businesses and the job creators of our economy, democrats want to let the bush tax relief ec pyre. that's -- expire. that's something in terms of certainty and job creation can they could come out and say, we were wrong, we should make those tax relief permanent because a lot of small businesses file under that. >> scott, i love that phrase, get coakley' d.

i don't think anybody wants that, but i think we're going to see this new focus, and as the president said, you know, we're open to any new ideas. this is, we're hopefully going to have a new era where everybody goes going to participate, everything's going to have input, there's going to be an exchange of ideas, and the best idea wins. jon: there are three big ideas being toss around here. we talked about the tax credits for small businesses, that's a big part of this proposal, but also road construction. i thought under the stimulus bill, scott, we were going to be seeing a whole lot of road construction, shovel-ready projects, etc., and that would have already helped with this unemployment situation. >> yeah. i mean, you look at the stimulus, $787 billion, a large part of that was supposed to be those shovel-ready projects. but it's really just buried us under a blizzard of debt. i see those payments that come from, you know, the stimulus plan as really transfer payments between politicians. you know, we've seen stories

about $3,000 signs to tout projects that weren't really maybe even necessary -- jon: all right, but -- >> scott, the republicans can't be against everything. >> no, and we're not. >> you can't say every idea doesn't work that -- >> no, no. actually the, richard, we're for tax the relief, we're for responsible spending in washington -- >> well, responsible spending is not a bill. jon: all right. we're going to see what the senate comes up with. richard, scott, thank you both. jane: and, jon, we're getting some breaking news out of southern florida, specifically the open lack ca area. this airport which is about 10 miles or so north of downtown miami. you see a twin engine plane there that is said to have landing gear issues. they've done somefully-byes here. they've got a rescue team on site in case they cough trouble landing. the initial information was the landing gear wasn't down, but, jon, it looks like it is. is that right? jon: well, it looks like it is,

and this could be all about nothing. when a pilot puts the landing gear down, you get a series usually of three lights on your panel, the dashboard of the airplane. you get a series of three lights that suggests that everything is good. for each piece of the landing gear. in this case, you know, it can be something as simple as a circuit breaker or a fuse being burned out, and maybe one of those lights doesn't illuminate. it sure looks like all three sets of gear are in the okay, they're this the down and locked position, but it could be a situation where one of them isn't quite all the way down, and that sometimes means that you can have a landing gear collapse, and that's what you don't want. jane we're going to get more details, we'll be right back. ugcl) yeacl

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from the commercial break, the nose wheel on this twin engine plane, the nose gear collapsed. the pilot did a masterful job setting this cessna twin engine plane down, but the nose gear, as the indicator light indicated, the nose gear was not firmly locked into position there. they had apparently tried to crank that gear down into position, most airplanes have that ability when the hydraulics don't get the gear down, they can crank it by hand. let's listen in to ralph, the chopper reporter, who watched this thing come in at the opelika airfield. >> you can see someone's already stepped out of the back of the airplane there, it is on runway 12, the diagonal runway here at opelika airport. you're going to be looking at some tape here, and this is the final approach. he made several fly-byes.

we'll stay on the landing there. you can see a textbook landing the way the pilot's trained in case of an energy, and he was able to set it down on the two back wheels, feather the engines to slow everything down, cut the power to the props so there'd be less damage to the aircraft, and then when the nose collapsed there, set it down, and you can see now the two men in the green uniforms there, that's the pilot and co-pilot being congratulated, yeah, being congratulated there by the fire guys for doing a good job there. again, i guess, a happy ending but some damage to the plane. jon: all right. that's a twin-engine cessna. cessna manufactured in 1974. going to need a whole lot of rehabilitation after this landing. take a look at what happened when they brought this plane in. did a great job setting it down on the mainlanding gear, the rear landing gear right there on the numbers of runway 12. and then keeping it off the

ground as they slow down the engines and also keep the nose in the air just as long as possible to bleed off all air speed. then they set it down on the nose wheel, and you can see it collapse and, oh, that has to sound ugly to the a pilot in a cockpit of what used to be a very nice airplane. that twin-engine cessna collapsing but, obviously, nobody hurt. the pilot did a beautiful be job. you have to think that those were, perhaps, military pilots based on those green jump suits they were wearing. jane: yeah. i think we're getting some word it may have been a u.s. coast fancy feast appetizers. [dinner bell chimes] high quality ingredients like wild alaskan salmon in a delicate broth, without by-products or fillers. fancy feast appetizers. celebrate the moment.

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jane: